It happened to us...could you be next?

That's an xray of one almost 3 month old, baby EZ. And that is a penny!!!

Here's the story:

On Saturday night, B-rad and I were doing dishes when we heard some giggling from the other room. We went in to "spy" on the cute happenings when we heard C start to say, EZ is spitting up. So we grabbed him and I simultaneously noticed she had her hand cupped around a fistful of coins. I calmy (and very gently, I might add) said, "chloe, this is very important, did you put some of that money in the baby's mouth". She responded by telling us that she had put the money in his mouth. I asked her again and she told me the same answer. She's a smart and very talkative girl so we trusted that she was accurately explaining what had happened.

At his point, EZ was just smiling and appeared fine.

Off to the ER. I have to add that this Saturday was the first day Brad had been home since the ill-fated surgery rotation started. Each night he comes home at 9, doesn't get to eat with us, doesn't get to see Chloe or EZ. So this was "our family night". We were supposed to be going for icecream and a movie rental but instead our car drove to the local ER.

Fortunately, we were admitted quickly because we had an infant with "a foreign body" in him.

At 8 we got the xray back and learned that he would have to have the "coin" removed (at this point there were bets going on to which coin it actually was). The ENT came and told us the situation. He could do the "removal surgery" but afterward the hospital didn't have anyone who could care for our little man. It's a pretty serious thing to give an infant anesthetic because their brain deosn't deal with it well. There was also a concern that he would cry and eventually cause the penny to move into a different position or block his airway which would be really bad. So, We would need to go to a pediatric specialty hospital. The nearest one was 45 minutes away in Peoria, Illionois.

So they rolled Ezra one way and we went the other. We sat and waited. We ate a butterfinger.

Shortly, the doc (bless his heart...he was such a sweet sweet man) came out and told us everything was fine. They removed the coin with some skinny forecep type things. He presented us with the coin. We have the penny in the keepsake cup on our counter now. Ezra will keep that souvenir forever, I'd imagine.

I went to feed him in recovery while Brad talked "doctor" with the anesthesiologist and the ENT. At this point they presented the "student" with the keepsake xrays. Not sure you're supposed to get that treatment but we did. They also told the "student" he would be permitted to ride on the lifeflight to Peoria.

So, I was driving at midnight on the dark streets of Illinois, headed to see my son in a strange place and hospital while my cute husband got to ride above in the helicopter. Brad takes care of me so this was very uncharacteristic of him that he would go and "leave" his poor wife to fend for herself and try and stay awake on the narrow roads...(I digress). It really was pretty cool they let him go and I am glad that he was with Ezra in the event that something did go wrong.

Our crappy night officially started at 2am. We had to try and get some sleep in the hospital room. Ezra was fine. He just needed to be monitored for the next 12 hours. They only had one "bed" in the room and Brad was told he's have to sit in a chair. Luckily, the ended up bringing him a rocking chair. The guy slept like a baby. At 5am, I said to myself, he's gonna be an awesome doctor because he can obviously sleep anywhere and function fine. As for me, I couldn't get comfortable and the constant beeping was like a screwdriver being jabbed under my toenails every 3 seconds. I don't do well with any noises at night!

At 11 am the next day we were discharged with a doctors note of : "no med, no procedures, no followup." We literally just slept there. On the drive home I had Brad teach me CPR and today I roleplayed with Chloe and Ezra. Do you know how to do CPR?

Ezra is doing fine. He actually slept all night last night...ALL NIGHT.

This afternoon, while Chloe was supposed to be sleeping, she called out to me that her nose was bleeding. Last week she pulled that stunt and I went in to find a smiling girl who just wanted more hugs and kisses. So today I didn't go in to the tales of a "bloody nose". I checked on her about 30 minutes later and found her covered in blood. Nice Mel. She did have a bloody nose. She was covered in blood. Her favorite toy and pillow and blanket were covered in blood. I laughed and thought to myself that these are the joys of being a parent!